President's Message

october 2021 

This week was the ACC’s Legislative Conference. ACC members from every state participated via Zoom and our chapter sent a strong delegation to bring the picture of how cardiovascular medicine is being practiced today to our lawmakers. We focused on several main issues:

• The proposed cuts to Medicare will hurt our practices. A thirty percent reduction in EP will especially not be good at a time when we are seeing sicker patients due to the pandemic effects. This is not the time to make cuts - we need vibrant practices.
• In 2019 we lobbied hard for the CVTeam to be able to oversee cardiac rehab. The bill was passed but with the caveat that the supervision would not take place until 2024. Evidence shows clearly that cardiac rehab works. We let our lawmakers know that two years is too long to wait for this to become reality.
• Covid forced us all to jump into telehealth. And it worked! For some of our patients a quick trip to the office is arduous. A video or even a chat via phone gives us a chance to check in and follow up easily. We told stories of great success with telehealth and asked that it be included in all future care models.
• While our talking points called the final subject ‘administrative burden’ we all know it as the dreaded ‘prior authorization.’ I don’t need to tell you all how this has a devastating effect on patients with delayed care and practices with time on the phone instead of giving care. Patients need the right tests at the right time - not roadblocks.

I would be remiss if I did not direct you to sign up for our MACCS meeting - a free, virtual offering of continued education - on the morning of November 21 with additional recorded hours to watch at our leisure. Check it out at maccscardiology.org.

Garima Sharma, MD, FACC

President, Maryland Chapter ACC